Pontifical Academy for Life

Invitation

Supporting and Caring for Persons with IDD

The 6th
International Colloquium of the International Association of Catholic
Bioethicists, organized with the support of the Order of Malta, addresses the topic: “Supporting and caring
for persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities".

Borgman Scott
2013-06-14

The colloquium will offer Ethical Reflections and Practical Considerations on the topic, at Villa Palazzola near Rome, Italy, from June 9-14, 2013.

Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (Learning Disabilities in the U.K.) refer
to a range of conditions in which lifelong limitations in intellectual
functioning and conceptual, social and practical skills are noticeable before
age 18 years. According to Dr. Hélène
Ouellette-Kuntz, an epidemiologist and Associate Professor at Queen’s
University, Kingston, Canada, between 1-3% of any country’s population have
IDD, such as Down syndrome, Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Fetal Alcohol
syndrome.

Dr.
William F. Sullivan,director
the IACB and Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at St.
Michael’s Hospital and Surrey Place Centre of the University of Toronto,
Canada, notes that ‘this colloquium is the first of its kind to focus on
ethical issues in the care of persons with IDD from an interdisciplinary Christian
perspective. It brings together 60 internationally renowned experts in the
field, with more joining through the Internet.’ Dr. Sullivan, who works
extensively with persons with IDD,challenges us to consider the question,
‘What would it be like if we welcomed persons with IDD into our lives and
communities with genuine respect for their freedom, insisting that they belong
and are to be loved?’

Medical advances that make
possible the detection of genetic disorders associated with IDD are routinely
used to end the life of these human persons prior to birth. Broader issues of valuing and
respecting people with IDD as free human beings and full members of the human
family also need to be addressed. Dr.
Brian Hennen, professor of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University and former
president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and a participant in
the IACB colloquium, remarks that, in our society, which emphasizes
intelligence and productivity, too often people with IDD are ridiculed,
regarded as merely burdens on society, excluded from full participation in
their communities and from decision-making about their own lives, health care
and supports. They are likely to receive
inadequate and/or inappropriate health care. Another participant in the IACB
colloquium, Professor John Heng of King’s University College at Western
University, London, Canada adds that ‘too often, the spiritual desires and
capacities of persons with IDD are not recognized or nurtured.’

As Jean
Vanier, founder of L'Arche, an international
federation of communities for people with IDD and those who assist them, states
in a video address to participants: ‘What seems to me to be absolutely clear is
the importance of seeing every person with a disability as an important person
capable of freedom and of love.’

This
6th International Colloquium of the IACB will culminate in a
consensus statement that is intended to

· advance
thinking within and beyond the Christian tradition on emerging ethical,
theological and pastoral questions relating to the support and care of persons
living with IDD;